There’s an unspoken rule that says after high school move onto college. I followed the rule.
Lately that rule seems dated and unrealistic in today’s work environment.
“Do you really need to go to college? There’s a huge student loan debt problem in this country. I think there’s going to need to be a drastic change in how these universities work. And I also think we have lambasted the trades for way too long. You can make six figures as a welder.”
____ Alexis Ohanian, cofounder of Reddit
I wrote a book called Occupational Studies as I worked forty years in higher education. I saw the play unfold behind the curtain so to speak. As someone who minored in Elizabethan England Shakespearean Literature, I saw the trap door. Many unsuspecting high school graduates being sold on the necessity of continuing their studies. Any study. Some institutions present a realistic version of the ability to benefit (federal education requirement) to applicants. Others see a profit margin by scamming these pawns.
There’s two kinds of colleges or universities; non-profit and proprietary or for-profit. Federal guidelines used to favor non-profit schools, but a shift in dynamics happened and it’s now the proprietary schools that have financial leeway. Simple reason. The more an institution profits from forcing applicants to rely on federal student aid, so does the government benefit from all the interest on those student loans. One hand washing the other. The American dream, right?
The Jesuit priests weren’t interested in cramming religion down my throat. They didn’t expect me to believe stories depicted in the Bible. Many even questioned its relevance themselves. Take the story of David and Goliath. Maybe some higher power strengthened David in order to slay Goliath. Maybe God was on his side. Or perhaps David and Goliath is a story of overcoming impossible odds, kind of like we’re seeing in the 2026 Winter Olympics. The point is that it’s just a story with the potential to apply critical thinking toward. So there’s far much more to gain. Critical thinking is a favorable skill to employ. Elizabethan England Shakespearean Literature? Impressive at parties but otherwise useless. Flaunting it makes you appear pompous and arrogant. Exercising critical thinking within in a conversation, well that’s gonna present who you are more effectively than Lady Macbeth washing the blood off her hands.
So get the skill. Get familiar with something tangible. Something that you have instincts about. The typical college experience doesn’t do that. When they hand you that sheepskin they’re really handing you an invoice. And then what do most victims do? Take the first job offered them that has nothing to do with anything other than paying their mountain of loans.
Get the skill. What you do doesn’t define you. Who you are does.